Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t convertible netbook now available
Lenovo announced the new Ideapad S10-3t convertible netbook (engadget) at CES last week, and it is now available for purchase at lenovo.com. Featuring a first of its kind capacitive touchscreen on a convertible netbook, it is priced between $549 and $649, and runs on Intel's new Pinetrail Atom processors with Windows 7 starter or Home Premium.
This offering from Lenovo is likely to be the first of a new trend of convertible capacitive touch Windows 7 netbooks, bridging the gap between the new slate form factor (engadget) and the recent but well established netbook form factor. Windows Touch, the new multi-touch UI built into Windows 7, has been hampered thus far due to minimal hardware support and a non existent touch application sofware library. Hardware appears to be on track for a big year in 2010, but, as with all new and useful hardware technologies, it's useless without solid software to justify it. Hopefully the beta app store announced by Intel for Atom based devices pans out and provides a consolidated place for these new Touch devices to thrive.
If the rumours about the forthcoming Apple tablet device hold true and it runs the iPhone OS rather than full blown OS X, these PC devices will fill a nice niche of their own, blending a mix of full OS flexibility with mobile app convenience. A compromise for most, but something that many business users will lean toward when 'apps' don't always cut it.
Jeff dePascale is a web and mobile applications professional based in Fairfield County, CT.
